Unexpected
by Lindy Rose
Summary: Zuko's morning is not going as expected


**_CHECK IT PEOPLE!_**  
**_My Very First OneShot EVER!_**

**_This totally just popped into my head and it's taken over my brain over the past 36 hours SO I really hope you like it.  
I have alot of other one-shot sort of spins offs of this all planned out so, while this will be posted as COMPLETE_**  
**_there is still the possibility of new chapters. _**

**_ANYWAY, to the story!_**  
**_Love to all the fellow Zutarians! We've had an epic week!_**  
**_Rose_**

**_Disclaimer: Avatar the Last Airbender is not mine :(_**

**_Unexpected_**

***~)[...](~***

When Zuko Agni got onto the elevator that morning all he was expecting was an interview with a potential new screen writer for his Uncle's television company. After that he would bulldoze through a fresh mountain of paper work, field some complaining second class writers who thought their scripts deserved another chance, and be forced to attend multiple stupor inducing meetings while downing a more than healthy amount of coffee just to stay upright.

He did_ not_ expect a panting young woman to hurl herself through the closing panels of the elevator door and crash into him, spilling his second cup of hot espresso down the very expensive front of his favorite scarlet button down.

"Ahh!" The young man yelled as the scalding liquid splashed across his torso. The girl tried desperately to stop herself but her momentum propelled her body on and she continued forward, crashing forcefully into him and sending them both tumbling to the floor.

"Get off get off get off!" Zuko said, frantically trying to strip off the shirt that the boiling liquid was seeping through, searing his skin. As soon as the girl moved enough for him to use his arms he yanked the garment off over his head and threw it away from himself, hissing when the cold air hit his flesh. He looked down to see ugly red splotches covering his muscled chest. _That'll probably hurt like a bitch later_, Zuko thought to himself.

Another gasp, one that didn't belong to him, brought his attention back to the cause of his current problem and Zuko looked up with a wrathful, golden eyed glare. This woman had just interrupted what was supposed to have been a perfectly normal day, she had caused him _pain_, and she was now in a world of trouble.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you to _look where you're going _you clumsy oaf?" He snarled furiously at the brown haired girl who was staring in horror at his burn.

Her head snapped up at his words and wide, bright blue eyes met his with an angry crackle. Zuko flinched involuntarily. Anger was _not_ the reaction he had been expecting; teary and apologetic more like but not _angry_.

"No, she didn't actually. Did your mother teach you to be a rude asshole?"

Zuko felt rage pushing out his ribs, sending his chin thrusting up in indignation; she had just _burned_ him and _ruined_ his favorite shirt! She should be apologizing on bended knee not having a retaliatory go at his mother!

He opened to tell her as much when he suddenly realized the position the two of them were in. The blue eyed klutz _was _on bended knee; her knees just happened to be on either side of him as she straddled his lap.

The cutting words that had been ready to springboard off of his tongue suddenly stuck in his throat and a strangled noise emerged instead. "Erk..." Zuko felt his face begin to burn even hotter than his scalded torso and looked away from her too close face, "Get off of me. Now."

He felt her confusion for a moment before she gasped in shock, or possibly horror-he wasn't sure-and jumped up off of him faster than he had pulled off his burning shirt.

Overwhelmed with embarrassment Zuko leapt to his feet and stormed over to the panel of buttons in the corner of the elevator. He punched in the top floor then, being sure not to make eye contact, glanced furtively over at the elevators other occupant. His sideways peek showed the young woman stooped over collecting scattered papers off of the elevator floor and sliding them tenderly into a laptop case. The elevator jolted into motion and she stumbled a little, grabbing for the bronze bar that circled around the small box of a room. Zuko crossed his arms across his chest, absolutely determined to not offer any sort of assistance to the rude, klutzy, flustered, pathetic, irritating, he glanced over at her again, very pretty-wait what? He looked hurriedly away. _I did not just think that._

"Here." A quiet voice at his elbow surprised him and he jerked slightly away from the noise.

"What?" Zuko looked down and saw the brown haired annoyance looking dejectedly down at her feet as she offered him his damp, irreversibly stained shirt. He took advantage of the moment to look her over and found himself unpleasantly, or maybe it was pleasantly-again he wasn't sure-surprised.

She was much more than just pretty; she was _gorgeous_.

Her hair looked soft and clean and was pinned back in a loose bun made of a mix of shining mahogany strands and tiny braids. Delicate silver earrings dangled from her ears and accented a graceful, caramel colored neck. Her deep blue dress was fitted perfectly to her trim yet luscious curves and the front dipped enough to show a modest amount of cleavage. She shifted nervously and Zuko saw her calves flex with strength below the knee length hem of her dress. She had nice legs; no wonder she had been able to go so fast...

That thought brought Zuko back to the present and he snatched the sticky garment from the woman's small hands. He glared at the top of her head down turned head. "You ruined my favorite shirt."

Her shoulders tensed and she gripped her hands together tightly in front of her skirt, "I'm sorry." She said softly, still staring at the floor.

"You should be-"

The elevator suddenly filled with a horrible screeching sound and the small room shuddered violently. The girl toppled forward and Zuko grabbed her in one arm, quickly clutching at the metal railing with the other.

The screeching and shuddering came to an abrupt stop and the pair fell to floor together as the elevator gave a wrenching final jolt and stopped moving completely.

They lay very still against the red carpet beneath them, both listening for any ominous creaking or any other noise that might indicate they were about to fall to their tragically early deaths. When they had heard nothing for at least a minute Zuko sat up very slowly and pulled out his cell phone.

Moments later he was listening to the ringing tone of the phone. _Come on Uncle_, he thought desperately, _put the tea pot down and pick up!_

"Nephew!" A comfortable and amiable voice answered, "How are you doing this morning? Are you ill? You are not usually late to work, though your interviewee is not here yet so there is not any harm done-"

"Uncle!" Zuko cut across his Uncle's cheerful chatter, "I'm in the elevator; it's broken and we're trapped. I need you to get some help."

"Oh my; this is very serious. For now try to limit your movements and be patient. I will call you back."

Zuko closed his phone with a snap and looked over at the woman beside him. His eyes widened in horror at what he saw.

"Are you _crying?_"

She sniffed and hugged her knees against her chest where she sat. "N-no."

Oh _no_. He could not _deal_ with this! Not crying! _Anything_ but crying!

More tears trickled down her cheeks and Zuko felt a mixture of claustrophobia and panic wash over him.

"Look it'll be alright, there's nothing to be scared of. Don't cry okay? Just-just don't cry." Her tears increased and her small shoulders began to shake with silent sobs. "Oh no, please stop crying. _Please_ stop crying. We'll just hold still and stay here until they get the elevator fixed and everything will be fine! Really, there's nothing to cry about!"

"Yes there _is!_" The young woman wailed and she buried her face in her arms, her sobs no longer so silent.

Zuko began to feel a prickling of irritation towards this girl. There really _wasn't _anything to be crying about; his Uncle would get them out and everything would be fine. She would even have a good story to tell her boyfriend, because someone as pretty as her couldn't possibly be single.

"Stop your wimpy sniffling already. There's nothing to be scared of and you're making a fool of yourself."

She raised her head and the young man's breath caught at how impossibly beautiful she was. Crying people were supposed to look hideous yet, even with her startlingly blue eyes swollen and red, with tears hanging from her long full lashes and her brow drawn in a furious scowl, she was still the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. "I'm not crying because I'm scared!" She growled at him.

"Then what one earth could you possibly have to be crying about?" Zuko snapped back, completely unnerved and very uncomfortable with the situation he now found himself in.

Her glare increased tenfold and he wondered if this was what people felt like when _he_glared at them. No, no one could ever match the power of this expression. It felt like his tousled black hair was starting to singe under her gaze and Zuko raised his hand to touch the roughened skin below his left eye, remembering, for a moment, the lick of flames against skin. "For your information even before this whole mess," she gestured angrily around the elevator and then back at him, "I was already having one of the worst days of my _life_ and I don't need _you_ to add to it thank you very much!"

"It can't be _that_ bad." His voice dripped with the skepticism as he glared back at her, unpleasant memories adding fuel to the fire he could feel building within him.

She sat up suddenly, waves of fury rolling off of her rigid frame_. "Oh yeah? You really think so?"_

What was this girl's problem? "Yeah! I do!"

She looked for a second as if she was about to explode like a small blue bomb, surprising him when, instead, she crossed her arms in front of her chest and firmly turned her back to him. "You're a bastard." She spat.

Zuko frowned at the nape of her neck, the frown deepening into a scowl when her shoulders began to shake with silent tears once more. He couldn't say exactly why but he didn't like that she had turned away from him and he really didn't like that she was crying again. The flames within him lowered from their hell fire frenzy to a frustrated smoldering. He wanted her to turn back and face him and for there to not be tears falling in sparkling drops onto her knees. He thought frantically for a moment but the only way he could come up with to possibly make that happen was to keep her talking. "Okay then," he said, "try me. Tell me all the terrible little details of your horrible day. Then maybe you'll realize that you're being stupid and it's not that bad and you'll _stop crying_."

He watched her figure practically inflate with a deeply drawn breath before she looked slowly back over her shoulder at him with a scathing expression.

"You _really_ want to know?"

"Yes."

She turned her head away again, "Well, it started this morning when I woke up. Aang, one of my room mates, is out of town so I went to take his dog Appa out for a morning walk. When I went out into the living room to get him my stupid, meat obsessed brother Sokka was sleeping on the couch-_Hey!_"

Zuko had grabbed her by the ankles and was carefully turning her body around. The young man noticed that her skirt was riding up as he did this and a pleased smirk formed on his lips as he appreciated the length of her legs.

"_What the hell are you doing!_" She shrieked, scooting away from him until her back hit the wall behind her.

He looked up from her lower half and his smirk grew. "It's rude to not look at someone while you're talking to them."

"_Rude?_" The pitch of her voice rose, "_You're_ going to tell me about rudeness? You can't be-"

"What happened next

She paused in confusion, "What?"

"What happened next in your morning?"

"Oh well." she floundered for a moment, "I, um...I saw Sokka had left plates out from his dinner last night and Appa was right there, licking one off. And then I saw a bone."

Her voice hitched again and he looked at her, completely confused. Weren't dogs supposed to eat bones?

"So?"

"So," she continued tearfully, "Sokka had been eating chicken when I came home from my shift last night and chicken bones can _kill_ dogs if they eat them. They can rip up their intestines so that they're vomiting up _blood_ and then they _die_. So I woke my brother up and asked him how many bones there had been when he fell asleep and the idiot didn't really remember, just that there were more than the one so Appa _must _have eaten some."

"Oh..." _Well that was definitely a terrible way to start a morning_, he thought to himself. "Can't you take him to a vet?"

"I wish I could," she was twisting the dark fabric of her skirt tightly in her hands, "but even if a vet saw the bones in there we couldn't afford any sort of surgery to remove them. Appa might just be able to get them out on his own but we don't know and I can't do _anything!_"

It looked like she might dissolve into another fountain of saltwater at any moment and Zuko desperately tried to refocus her attention. "Well what else happened? I mean that's pretty bad but it doesn't make it the worst morning ever. And if you're so worried about this dog why are you here anyway?"

"It's not like I left him alone!" She glared at him and Zuko felt heartened that, at the very least, she had temporarily stopped looking so miserable. "Sokka's with him and Toph will take over for him once she gets out of school this afternoon and if I could be I would be too...but I didn't really have a choice."

"Why?"

"Well," she had begun clenching at the fabric of her skirt again and Zuko wondered briefly if the garment would ever be the same after it's present trial, "I still had to take Appa outside and on our way down I ran into my landlady who I've been trying to _avoid_ for the past few weeks because we haven't been able to pay rent for two months now. Then the madwoman started screaming at me and she told me that if I don't have at least this months _and_ last months rent by the end of the month she's kicking us all out! So I had to come here for this stupid interview that I'm missing right now that I probably wouldn't have gotten the job for _anyway_because obviously I'm not good enough to be worth anyone's time so I don't even know why I even _bother!_"

And she burst out into a fresh torrent of tears.

Zuko blinked in momentary bewilderment at the sudden U-turn the conversation had taken and the abrupt new outburst of weeping.

"Wait wait wait where did that come from?" She didn't answer, so lost in her misery that she didn't seem able to hear him anymore. "Hey um, um" _Shit, I don't know her name!_

"Ummm Miss? It's okay, really; you don't have to cry. Come on, please stop crying." She still seemed oblivious to his attempts at communication. Zuko ran his hand through his hair in frustrated desperation and then tried taking the physical approach. He tapped her shoe. No response. He tried her calf. Nope, still no response.

"Ummm," Well he _was_desperate and desperate times called for desperate measures and so Zuko reached up and gently drew one of the girl's hands away from her face. She instinctually tried to pull away the second she felt his fingers around her hand but Zuko tightened his grip a little and brought both their hands to rest on his knee. It felt different but...it was nice.

Her other hand fell softly down into her lap and she looked somewhat dazedly from their joined hands, back up to his face, then back down to their hands. The incredible awkwardness of the moment filled the small elevator before settling heavily around Zuko and he blushed furiously. He was holding this girl's hand and he didn't even know her name.

Well, that could be fixed.

"...What's your name?"

She looked back up and met his golden gaze with her own bemused blue one.

"Katara..."

Her name was as beautiful as her eyes.

"Nice to meet you Katara. Would you mind explaining that last thing you said?"

"Huh?"

Zuko sighed; she wasn't making this very easy. "What you said about not being good enough to be worth anyone's time?"

"Oh...that..." Tears pooled in her eyes again and the young man unconsciously rubbed his thumb over the top of her hand. "Well...I brought breakfast to my boyfriend this morning, because it was my big interview day and I wanted to see him before I went in and after he ate he...he broke up with me. Apparently he found someone else...he said she was more _interesting_ and that she _would_ have, I-I mean, well, um, do _things _with him and that she isn't as much of a..." she sounded like she was about to choke, "killjoy."

Silent droplets began to run down her face again and Zuko stared at the trembling young woman in front of him for what felt like hours, lost in his thoughts. Katara didn't look as if she could be more than twenty and yet it sounded like she was already trying to support herself and at least three other young people by getting, what seemed to be, a _second_job. In Zuko's mind that act alone spoke of great internal strength, a hardworking mindset and an obviously deep love for her friends and family. Her extreme distress over the dog's health, in his eyes, revealed a kind and gentle nature. All that, mixed with the spit-fiery no-nonsense attitude he had seen brief flashes of in her, and the fact that she was too beautiful for him to wrap his mind around, equated to someone Zuko couldn't possibly see as ever being _less_ than interesting.

In fact, she was beginning to border on _fascinating_ and the young man felt himself filled with a feeling of fixation that he had never experienced before.

And as far as the sex thing went, well, so far to Zuko, Katara was starting to seem like she might be well worth the wait.

As all his thoughts settled on this conclusion Zuko found himself instinctively shifting towards Katara. His movements were slow and non threatening as something inside himself told him to be careful not to frighten the emotionally strained girl. He looked down at her as he came closer, looming over her smaller figure, and saw that she wasn't consciously registering his approach. Her hand drew him closer however and he took that as a sign of her subconscious acceptance of his nearness.

Encouraged, he placed his free hand on the wall beside her head and leaned down until his bangs were brushing her forehead.

"You really have had a horrible day." Zuko murmured, his breath skimming warmly across her skin.

Katara jolted out of her watery reverie and looked up at Zuko with enormous, startled eyes.

"Huh?"

Zuko smiled softly; her confusion was adorable. Which was weird; he never thought anything was adorable.

"I'm admitting defeat; you've had a terrible morning."

"Well," she huffed. He watched with amusement as she ran her gaze over his muscled chest and chiseled abdomen, a furious blush spreading across her skin and working it's way down her neck, before she nervously averted her eyes. "Yes, I have. Thank you for acknowledging it."

"Can I make it better?"

"Why would you want to-"

She was cut off as his lips softly covered hers and, after her first few seconds of shock, Zuko felt her begin to melt beneath him.

He moved his mouth slowly, coaxingly, drawing her out and into himself. There was an unfamiliar and wonderful singing inside his mind and it tingled out through his limbs to mix with the heat that burned everywhere she brushed against his skin.

And then she lightly pressed her palms just above his bare pecs and Zuko moaned as he felt a rush of flames surge in his body. It was like nothing he had ever felt before. The smell of her hair, the heat of her skin, the music and sparks shooting all through his body, the softness of her lips, the warm moisture dripping down her cheek-

Wait a minute now; hold the phone;_ that_ wasn't supposed to be there.

Zuko opened his eyes and saw that she had started crying again...but this time it was different. This time it was worse. This time it had something to do with _him._

"Oh no." The panic filled him again and he took her face gently in his long fingered hands, "I'm so sorry I shouldn't have done that. Please don't cry really, I won't do it again. I'll go sit on the other side of the elevator if you want. I'm sorry please, _please_ don't cry."

"I d-don't _understand!_" She wailed and her hands fluttered against his chest, as if looking for something to grasp at, to reassure and realign herself with.

Zuko laughed and wiped at the new tears. "Neither do I."

Katara looked up and met his eyes which were filled with such a warm familiarity that she felt even more confused and only began to cry harder, so emotionally overspent that it seemed her body had taken over and was now forcing her to expel the stress. So Katara cried into Zuko's hands; she had finally settled her own hands on his knees and she held on as she cried from the feelings of helplessness, of loneliness, of fear, of disappointment, of rejection, of everything ugly that she had held inside for Zuko wondered how long.

Throughout it all he cradled her face in his hands, stroking away the tears as they fell, whispering "Shh...it's okay. Don't cry, don't cry. It's alright Katara, don't cry." Except now the reassurances weren't filled with the same panic as before, they were just soft reminders of his, a total stranger's, presence.

And, for some reason, his words and touches soothed Katara and her sobs and tears finally faded until she was curled against the skin of his chest, completely silent and half asleep. The feeling of her in his arms and the knowledge that she was resting peacefully because of him, filled Zuko with a sense of fulfillment and serenity that he had never experienced before.

He looked down and smiled at her tranquil face while his hand started to absently pull out the bobby pins that held up her bun, intent on seeing if that hair really was as soft as it looked.

Zuko was contentedly running his hands through the now deeply sleeping woman's newly loosened, satin soft, surprisingly long hair when his forgotten cell phone rang.

He snatched it up off of the ground where he had left it and opened the thing with a low growl, "Forgot us for a while did you Uncle?"

Zuko heard his Uncle Iroh chuckle on the other end of the line. "The kind mechanic has just informed me that the elevator will be working in only a moment or two. And really Zuko, do you think I would forget you? I merely thought that your morning would be better spent getting to know your interviewee on a more personal level rather than listening to me on your phone."

Zuko felt his heart stutter and he looked down at the sleeping woman in his lap. "My what?"

"You're interviewee Zuko! Her name is Katara Tui La and from what I understand she is an excellent writer. Hopefully you agree with me but," Uncle Iroh's voice took on a suggestive tone, "if you want more time to decide please feel free to take all the time you need."

"Uncle!" Zuko sputtered, completely aghast. "What are you..." Zuko's eyes widened in horror and his eyes searched frantically for the very last thing he wanted to see. After a minute of fruitless searching he forced the question out through clenched teeth. "Uncle is there a camera in this elevator?"

"A camera?" His Uncle repeated with innocent curiosity, "No, why do you ask Nephew?"

"Then how do you know Katara-I mean, um, Miss Tui La- is in the elevator with me?"

Uncle Iroh laughed, "The security camera's Zuko! Obviously we have some in the lobby and you know I have a personal security monitor in my office; _I _know you have used it more than once to watch the results of your pranks on Mr. Zhao."

Zuko felt the tension seep back out of his muscles and he relaxed his jaw, "I have no idea what you're talking about Uncle...So, you said I can take some more time to work with the interviewee; how long are we talking?"

"Well," Zuko heard his Uncle chuckle again and he wondered for a second what was so funny, "I have a feeling that the girl could prove to be very, ahem, _valuable_ to us, so I suppose I will give you the rest of the week to work with her individually."

Zuko felt his intestines give a joyous lurch and a grin unfurled across his face. Then he had a brainwave, "Uncle?" he asked, "Since I will be taking up alot of our interviewee's time I think it would be appropriate to give her some sort of compensation for that time. A decent sized one as well."

"Well," Zuko could swear his Uncle sounded smugger than a bloodily sated crocodile but he had no idea why, "I don't see why not; in fact, that sounds like an excellent idea Zuko. I will see to it."

"Thank you Uncle." The young man said gratefully. There was a sudden shifting against him and he looked down to see Katara stirring. "I'll talk to you later this evening Uncle. Goodbye."

He closed the phone gently and smiled at the girl in his arms as he tenderly stroked the long mahogany hair back from her face. Hell she was beautiful.

"Katara?" He said quietly, "Katara the elevator in almost fixed."

"Iz wha?" She mumbled groggily as she sat up.

"The elevator's almost fixed."

Her gaze was glassy as she processed this information and a second later she had leapt to her feet with positively wild eyes.

"Oh no!" She panicked, running around the little room that they no longer feared would fall and gathering up her bag and bobby pins. "I still have to meet Mr. Agni! I'm a mess! What if I run into him looking like this!" She whirled back to face Zuko. "What time is it?"

Zuko had stood as well when Katara had jumped up in her panic, but as soon as he realized the source of her fear, he had leaned back against the elevator wall and just enjoyed the show. He was finding that her overly emotional reactions were incredibly entertaining, so long as they didn't involve tears that is.

"Hey! Pay attention!"

"Hmm?" He raised a casual, questioning eyebrow her and smiled fondly at her rumpled clothes and disheveled hair.

"I need to know what time it is! Ahh!"

The elevator had just jolted back to life beneath them and the blue eyed klutz had almost fallen over again. Zuko, of course, had caught her and now had her pulled tightly against his side.

"You want to know what time it is?" He asked the frantic woman calmly.

"Yes! Yes, I really _really_ want to know!"

He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket with one hand, keeping a tight grip on her with the other, and looked at the time on its front.

"Well," he said slowly, "looks like it's time for your meeting with Mr. Z Agni."

Katara was in a complete frenzy now, as if his lack of response to her intense distress was driving her to whole new levels of panic. Zuko was beginning to wonder when steam would start to leak out her ears.

The elevator shuddered to a stop and the silver doors slid open to reveal a deserted lobby. It looked like it might be around lunch time.

"Oh no oh no oh no." Katara tried to bolt forward but was jerked back by a hand around her wrist. She looked back at Zuko in confusion. "What are you doing? I've gotta go! I'm already so late and he might not even see me but I have to go and try! Please! I have to go! I'm going to be too late! _Why the hell are you smiling like that?_"

Zuko chuckled and tugged her back into his arms. "You're not late Katara."

"What are you talking about? I'm so far beyond the realm of late I'm practically deceased! I'm so late I'm-"

And, of course, he was kissing her again and much more fiercely than before.

Katara reared back after only a few seconds, her breathing ragged,looking completely enraged and all the sexier for it. "What-what the _hell!_"

Zuko outright laughed at the look on her face and she smacked him on his still bare shoulder in fury. "You aren't late." he choked out through the waves of laughter, "I promise you you're not late at all."

"Arg!" She shrieked, "I just need to find Mr. Z Agni! I have no idea what kind of crazy is going on in your head right now but would you please just tell me where the stairs are so I can get up to his office before the end of the day?"

Zuko took a few deep breaths and got a grip on himself before stepping back and sweeping into a deep formal bow. "Zuko Agni, at your service."

He straightened and grinned childishly at her dumb founded expression.

"You're...Z. Agni?"

"The one and only."

"Oh no," Katara mumbled faintly to herself and she ran a hand through her wavy mess of hair, "I guess I should just go then..."

Zuko stared at her in surprise and his hand flashed out to grab her arm as she started to turn away. "Wait, why are you leaving?"

She looked at him in surprise now. "Would...you would still consider hiring me? After all...this?" She gestured back to open elevator doors and his stained scarlet shirt for lack of sufficient words.

His face relaxed back into a smile. "Yes, I would still consider it. In fact, I already have permission to spend to the whole week with you so that I can come to an accurate individual evaluation. You'll be compensated well for your time of course."

Katara stared at him in uncomprehending astonishment. She blinked and shook her head before holding up her hands and looking back and forth between both pointer fingers, obviously trying to arrange the information and her current mental state into something she could grasp.

Her mouth suddenly fell open and she gaped up at him. "I'm going to get paid...for a week...for you following me around and interviewing me?"

Zuko smirked, "Glad to see you're catching on."

She blinked owlishly at him. "Well...this is unexpected."

His smirk turned slightly feral and with a quick step forward he brought his mouth crashing possessively onto to hers. When he pulled back she was breathless and her toffee colored cheeks were flushed. "Expect that?" He asked smugly.

"No..."

"Good. Now, would you show me some of your work over lunch?" Caught off guard by his kiss she had nearly dropped her laptop case and he took it gently from her hands before she did.

"Oh, well, yes of course we can Mr. Agni but could we, um, maybe stop by my apartment first? I want to check on Appa."

"Of course." His voice suddenly became extremely serious and business like. "But first I need you to do something for me."

"What?"

He stepped closer so that their bodies were just a hairsbreadth away. "Call me Zuko"

"Oh!" Her lips curled into a joyful smile and she tilted her head back to meet his eyes. "Okay...Zuko."

Zuko felt an irrational wave of intense and warm happiness rush through him at the sound of her saying his name. "Say it again." He said hoarsely and he leaned in to capture her lips once more.

She skipped away from him with a laugh that echoed around the empty lobby. "Come on Zuko; I can say it as we walk."

Confusion at the loss of her body proximity froze Zuko for a moment but then he was quickly following and over taking the brunette on her way to the front doors.

"Oh, and Zuko?" Katara said, stepping through the door Zuko held open for her.

"Yes?"

"We need to get you a shirt before we get to my place or Sokka might try to kill you."

***~)[...](~***

Iroh Agni leaned back in his high back leather chair and chuckled at the couple walking out of view on the monitor screen before him. When his nephew Zuko was late to work this morning Iroh had been immediately concerned. His nephew was not a person to usually be late to anything. He had been about to call to check on him when Zuko himself had called with the surprising news of the broken elevator. Iroh had taken action right away and, while he called the mechanic, had changed his security monitor to show the view from his secret elevator camera.

The unexpected sight the screen revealed left him temporarily speechless and the mechanic on the other end of the phone almost hung up before Iroh was able to regain his voice.

Zuko, his usually stoic, aloof nephew was sitting on the elevator floor completely shirtless and passionately arguing with a beautiful, crying young lady that Iroh had never seen before.

Iroh could have watched all day he was so fascinated at the unusual interaction. And so he did. Or, at least, half of the day. When the mechanic called to inform him that the elevator was fixed Iroh had thanked the man and asked if he would stay and wait for a while before starting the machinery back up.

Because why would he want to interrupt the most interesting television program he had ever seen?

So Iroh spent the rest of the morning drinking his tea and alternating between watching the pair in the elevator and researching the unknown young woman. To his incredible delight he found that the girl was none other than the possible fresh talent that Zuko had been scheduled to interview that very morning. Not only that but, after looking into her a little more deeply, he discovered that she was only two years younger than his nephew and was actually an excellent writer with many minor works that had already been snapped up by other large companies.

Iroh was positively beside himself; he couldn't have planned this better if he had been the one to arrange the cosmic meeting. And, he thought mischievously, he was certainly going to be doing some arranging _now_.

When he realized that it was almost lunch time Iroh decided, very sadly, that it was probably time to release the pair from captivity.

So he called the mechanic, gave him the order to restart the machinery in five minutes, and then called his nephew.

And oh how entertaining that conversation was; Iroh almost choked with on his jasmine tea at the look on his nephews face when he began to suspect a camera. Of course, out of good sense and the natural instinct of self preservation, Iroh told him there was no camera. He suspected that Zuko might die of shame if the young man knew that he had seen his behavior and, if not properly distracted, he might try to kill Iroh as well.

Iroh began to hum a very familiar march.

Maybe he would tell Zuko at the wedding.

***~)[...](~***

**Rose=addict  
Reviews=crack  
Rose+crack= motivation=more chapters  
more chapters=hopefully more reviews(i.e. crack)**

**So dear reader do you see how you can make this cycle work for you?**


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